Freedom Stay-Out: What Happened This Afternoon; Stay Out For Freedom; Stay Out For Freedom: Freedom Stay-Out: What Happened This Afternoon
Description:
4:30 PMIn 1964, despite a year of sustained efforts by the NAACP, parents, and other civil rights activists, the Boston Public Schools remained racially segregated. Citizens for Human Rights (CHR), the group that organized the Boston?s successful 1963 Stay Out for Freedom, led by Reverend James Breeden and Noel Day, evolved into the Massachusetts Freedom Movement (MFM). MFM organized another Stay Out campaign for February 26, 1964; over 10,000 children attended the MFM Freedom Schools in 35 locations throughout Boston. The 1964 Stay Out, however, was also part of an emerging a national school boycott movement against segregated schools in the North that included similar demonstrations in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, and Milwaukee. The WGBH-FM program, ?1964 Stay Out For Freedom: What Happened This Afternoon,? highlights some of the afternoon activities at the St. Mark?s Social Center, including excerpts of the Dr. Adelaide Hill?s speech and the children singing freedom songs. The primary focus of The ?What Happened This Afternoon? segment was excerpts from the students? reports on their discussion groups. The excerpts offered WGBH-FM listeners an opportunity to hear the students, both Black and White, discuss their de facto segregation; discrimination; the Southern civil rights movement, the lack of employment and higher education opportunities; voter registration and education; and methods of social change, from their own perspective. Summary and select metadata for this record was submitted by Audrea Dunham.
